The Evolution of Smart Phone as Fitness Tracker

Today, Samsung released its newest mobile device, the Galaxy S5. This smart phone contains the world’s first heart rate monitor wired directly into the hardware. To operate it, users place a finger on the tiny flash sensor plate on the front side of the phone and, within seconds, the device should provide the beats-per-minute number on the phone’s screen.

This feature is primarily meant for determining resting heart rate, and the BPM is automatically added into a calendar log for easy monitoring.

“It uses the same technology as a heart rate monitor that you’d find in the hospital and is shockingly accurate,” Samsung manager of product planning Alex Rodriguez said.

For tracking heart rate on the move, Samsung has also introduced its accompanying Gear Fit smart watch. The watch has a slim and sleek interface and offers a number of fitness features as well, including a pedometer and real-time coaching instructions.

“The coaching feature is really where the Gear Fit comes alive,” Rodriguez said. “It will tell you to speed up if you’re not going fast enough, or to slow down if you’re going too fast.” It makes this call based on the user’s pre-programmed workout goal, and gives a light vibration and flashes a text message with the command. “Being able to get that information in real-time allows you to get it right when you need it, rather than plugging the device into a computer afterwards and it then telling you how you did,” Rodriguez said.

As of this version, the Gear Fit only pairs with Samsung phones, however, the Galaxy S5 pairs via Bluetooth with a host of other fitness devices. Both the Gear Fit watch and the Galaxy S5 are water resistant. (The Wall Street Journal writer Geoffrey A. Fowler tested the latter by submerging it in a margarita. It passed muster.) “This isn’t for doing laps in the pool, but it helps to prevent that uneasy feeling about getting water on these devices,” Rodriguez said. “If you’re running and it rains you don’t have to worry about the device.”

One additional feature is that the Galaxy S5 comes pre-loaded with a number of apps. Those include MapMyRun and RunKeeper. As a gift to users, Samsung provides them with a complimentary six-month premium subscription for the former (a $35.94 value) and a one-year free membership to the latter (a $19.99 value). There is also the strength workout app Skimble, which has move-by-move instructional videos, and is included for free for the first six months (a $41.94 value).

Wearable technology is an exploding market. Industry research expert IDTechEx sees it valued at $14 billion and forecasts it reaching $70 billion by 2024. In addition to Samsung, Google and Apple are also entering the space. Last month, Google formally announced its new Android Wear project. Its first foray will be watches that go beyond telling time. The company has been notoriously tight-lipped about what users can expect, but it has stated these devices will be capable of monitoring real-time speed, distance and time on a run. The device is also supposed to operate via voice recognition, so runners could potentially ask the watch questions about their fitness progress and receive electronic summaries. Despite making noise with the announcement, Google has yet to give a product release date.

Even with Nike recently entering the fitness technology market and smaller companies, like Garmin, having already courted loyal consumers, they don’t appear to have the widespread tech capabilities and resources of a Google, Apple or Samsung.

“Apple and Google (and manufacturers of Android devices) have the advantage that they already have millions of users on mobile devices running their operating systems,” said MacRumors.com editor in chief, Eric Slivka. “There’s only so much that a watch or other wearable can do on its own, so integration with more powerful mobile operating systems and devices is key. Sure, Nike and Reebok can develop apps for iOS and Android to handle that aspect, but baking it into the operating system and core apps at a more basic level offers greater convenience and utility for users.”

According to Gurman, Healthbook, which looks a lot like Apple’s Passbook, will potentially have sections to track data pertaining to blood work, heart rate, hydration levels, blood pressure, physical activity, nutrition, blood sugar, sleep, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and weight. The weight tab is one of the most unique innovations, as it might allow users to monitor their own body fat percentage and Body Mass Index. Another helpful tab is the hydration tracker component that could alert runners to when they needed to consume fluids before, during and after a workout.

“It is speculation, but it seems like Healthbook will first be oriented toward the iPhone and then, over time, Apple will transfer it over to the iWatch,” Gurman said. “I think Apple will walk before they run on this and take it slow over a period of a few years.”

To help it devise Healthbook, Apple hired Jay Blahnik, a key advisor on the Nike FuelBand project, last spring.

“They are taking this seriously,” Gurman said. “It’s new territory, and I think it’s going to be a big deal.”

As Samsung, Google and Apple develop software and hardware around fitness applications, the most pressing question on the horizon will be how much of the human performance data will come directly from sensors built into the device, how much might come from third-party hardware accessories, and how much will have to be manually entered by users. Consumers have already seen heart rate, step counting and sleep tracking incorporated into phones and watches in ways where the machine does all the work. It’s when companies start following more complex measures, such as blood sugar, that it’s going to be difficult to package into a watch, especially in the near future given that the non-invasive technology itself is still in the early stages.

“With Healthbook looking like it will be able to track blood work results, nutrition and weight, it’s hard to see how any of that could be automated directly into a phone or watch,” Slivka said. “Stand on your iPhone and it’ll measure your weight! But in seriousness, that doesn’t mean the phone couldn’t automatically pull data from a Wi-Fi connected scale.”

While these three companies, plus Nike, Garmin and the rest, continue to expand their fitness technology products, those who stand to benefit the most from the competition are the runners, who will soon be able to monitor themselves like never before.

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